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itants, who manufacture woollens, cloth, and hats; 4 miles 
north-west of Sisteron. 
RIBNIK, a town of Prussian Silesia, in the principality 
of Ratibor. Population 1400; 13 miles east of Ratibor, and 
21 north of Teschen. 
RIBNIK, a small town of European Turkey, in Walachia, 
on the river Ribnik. Here a combined force of Austrians 
under the prince of Saxe-Cobourg, and Russians under Su- 
v/arrow, obtained a decisive victory over the Turks, in Sep¬ 
tember 1789. It gave to Suwarrow the epithet of Ribniks- 
koy; 100 miles south of Jassy, and 112 west of Ismaei. 
Lat. 45. 36. N.- long. 27. 4. E- 
RIBNIK, a small town of European Turkey, in Walachia, 
on the Aluta; 44 miles south of Hermannstadt, and 180 
south-west of Jassy. Lat. 45. 19. N. long. 24. 8. E. 
RIBNIK, a river of Walachia, which runs into the Siret, 
near Dubravitza, on the borders of Moldavia. 
RIBNITZ, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of 
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on a bay of the Baltic; 12 miles 
north-east of Rostock. Population 1900. 
To RI'BROAST, v. n. To beat soundly. A burlesque 
word.—I have been pinched in flesh, and well ribroastcd 
under my former masters; but I’m in now for skin and all. 
L' Estrange. 
RIBSTON, Great and Little, two hamlets of England, 
West Riding of Yorkshire, about 4 miles south-east of Knares- 
borough. 
RIBTON, a small village of England, in Cumberland, 
situated 4 miles east of Workington, on the opposite side of 
the Derwent. 
RIBWORT, s. A plant. 
RIBY, a village of England, in Lincolnshire; 6 miles west 
of Grimsby. 
RIC, s. Ric denotes a powerful, rich, or valiant man ; 
as in these verses of Fortunatus: 
Hilperice' potens, si interpres harborus adsit, 
Adjutorfortis hoc quoque nomen habet. 
Hilperic Barbarians a stout helper term. So Alfric is 
altogether'strong; iEthelric, nobly strong or powerful: to 
the same sense as Polycrates, Crato, Plutarchus, Opimius. 
Gibson's Camden. 
RICA, Villa, a city of Chili, which was sacked by the 
Araucanos Indians in 1559. It is about 66 miles from the 
Pacific ocean, and 66 north-east of Valdivia. Lat. 39. 9. S. 
lorigl 72. 8. W.—There is another town of the same name in 
Brazil, at the source of the Rio Francisco. 
RICARD (Dominic), born at Toulouse in 1741, entered 
into the congregation of the Christian doctrine, and became 
a distinguished professor in it. When he quitted that society 
he took up his residence at Paris, where he employed himself 
in instructing youth, and in literary pursuits. He was par¬ 
ticularly addicted to the study of the Greek language, and 
engaged in the great task of translating the whole works of 
Plutarch. From 1783 to 1795 he published his version of 
that philosopher’s “ Moral Works,” in 17 vols. 12mo.; of 
the “ Lives” he only gave to thepubiic 4 vols. 12mo. They 
are executed in a very reputable manner, both as to style and 
sense. He also published a poem, entitled “ La Sphere," in 
eight cantos, 8vo., 1796, which contains a system of astrono¬ 
my and geography, enriched with notes, and notices of Greek, 
Latin, and French poems, that treat on astronomical subjects. 
It is a work more fertile in instruction than poetical beau¬ 
ties! This estimable person, who was distinguished by 
modest merit, and the practice of all the social virtues, died 
in 1803. 
RICARDO (David), an eminent political writer and 
distinguished member of the British Parliament, was born on 
the 19th of April, 1772. His father, a native of Holland, 
and of very respectable connections, came over on a visit 
to this country, when young, and preferring it to his own, 
became naturalized, and settled here. He entered the Stock 
Exchange; and being a man of good natural abilities, and 
strict honour and integrity, acquired a respectable fortune 
aud- considerable influence in the circle in which be moved. 
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He married, and was the father of several children, of 
whom the subject of the present memoir, was the third. 
This son, when very young, was sent to Holland- 
After two years’ absence he returned home, and continued 
the common school education till his father took him into 
business. At his intervals of leisure he was allowed any 
masters for private instruction whom he chose to have -, 
but he had not the benefit of classical education ; and it is 
doubtful whether it would have been a benefit to hijn, or 
whether it might not have led his mind to a course of study., 
in early life, foreign to those habits of deep thinking, which 
in the end enabled him to develope the most abstruse 
and intricate subjects, and to be the author of important 
discoveries, instead of receiving passively the ideas of 
others. 
In the early years of Mr. Ricardo but little appeared in his 
intellectual progress, which would have led a cursory obser¬ 
ver to predict his future eminence. But he was remarkable 
for solidity and steadiness of character. . At the age of 
fourteen his father began to employ him in the Stock Ex¬ 
change, where lie placed great confidence in him, and gave 
him such power as is rarely granted to persons considerably 
older than himself. At the age of sixteen he was entrusted 
with the care of two of his younger brothers, to convey 
them to Holland ; and neither his lather nor his mother felt 
the smallest anxiety for the charge that was confided to him. 
When young, Mr. Ricardo showed a taste forabstract and ge¬ 
neral reasoning ; and though he was without any inducement 
to its cultivation, or rather lay under positive discouragement, 
yet at the age of nineteen, his mind disclosed a propensity to 
go to the bottom of the subjects by which it was attracted, 
and he showed the same manly and open adherence to the 
opinions which he had deliberately formed, and the same 
openness to conviction which distinguished his maturer 
.years. 
His father, was a man whose prejudices were exceedingly 
strong; and they induced him to take the opinions of his 
forefathers in points of religion, politics, education, kt. 
upon faith, and without investigation. Not only did he 
adopt this rule for himself, but he insisted on its being fol¬ 
lowed by his children; his son, however, never yielded his 
assent on any important subject, until after he had thoroughly 
investigated it. It was, perhaps, in opposing these strong 
prejudices, that he was first led to that freedom and inde¬ 
pendence of thought for which he was so remarkable, and 
which has indeed extended itself to the other branches of his- 
family'. 
Soon after he had attained the age of twenty-one, Mr. 
Ricardo married; and this threw him upon his own re¬ 
sources, as he quitted his lather at the same time. The 
general estimation in which he was held now manifested 
itself. All the most respectable members of the Stock 
Exchange came forward to. testify the high opinion they 
entertained of him, by their eagerness to assist him in his 
undertakings. 
His success answered his most sanguine expectations; and 
in a very few years, certainly not wholly without some 
anxiety at first, he had secured to himself a handsome inde¬ 
pendence. During this time his mind was chiefly occupied 
by his business; but as his solicitude for its success lessened, 
lie turned his attention to other subjects. 
At this time, or about the age of 25, by the example and 
instigation of a friend with whom he was then very 
intimate, his leisure hours were devoted to some of the 
branches of mathematics, chemistry, geology, and mine¬ 
ralogy. He fitted up a laboratory, formed a collection of 
minerals, and was- one of the original members of tlie 
Geological Society, but he never entered very warmly 
into the study of these subjects, and his interest in them 
totally vanished, when he became deeply involved in th<i 
investigation of his favourite topic. 
The talent for obtaining wealth is not held in much esti¬ 
mation, but perhaps in nothing did Mr. Ricardo more 
evince his extraordinary powers than lie did in his business. 
His complete knowledge of all its intricacies; his surprising 
quickness. 
